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T I I E I' E II V E C T MAN 



A SERMON 



o\ III I ; l> E ATI I OF 



HON. JOHN DAVIS, 



PKEACHED AT 



vWlortestcr, pass. %%x\\ 23, 1854, 



B\ 



ALONZO MILL, D. D., 

pastor of tfjc .Stconft Ccmcjnsational &f)urcfi En oiEtorcrjattr. 



PRINTED FOR PRIVATE DISTRIBUTION. 



NEW YORK: 
CHARLES B. NORTON, 71 CHAMBER8 STREET. 

1 6 5 4- . 



■foffi&eSd^ 



■^cWf 




T H E P E It F EOT MAN 



A SEEM ON 



ON THE DEATH OK 



HON. JOHN DAVIS, 



rKEA'IIKIi \1 



Htomsttr, lass. Jjril 23, 1854, 



uy 



ALONZO "HILL, D. D., 

pastor of tfjt Sftoni (Eonijrcjjatinnal dfjurcf) in ffitTorusitr. 



PRINTED FOR PRIVATE DISTRIBUTION. 



<*NEW YORK: 
CHARLES B. NORTON, VI CHAMBERS STREET. 

1 8 54. 



b 

M 



i: \l. I R Kl IDW in a CO., I'lilN l 

■ OR. KilliO 1ND i . 

n i m York. 



SERMON. 



Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for the end of that man is 
peace. — Psalm xxxvii: 37. 

I do not know, my brethren, when I have ever 
risen to address yon under a deeper sense of personal 
insufficiency. The perfect man ! — The poet's theme, 
the Christian's aspiration, the enthusiast's dream ! 
Under any circumstances, it would task the human 
powers, and try the human sympathies, adequately to 
trace the noble lineaments, to lay open the mines of 
intellectual, moral wealth, to unfold the essential quali- 
ties which belong to the man whom we are directed to 
observe and mark, and to note that combination of 
delicate and nicely-adjusted properties which, in the 
end, when human strength gives way, and earthly 
resources fail, shall bring peace. But when, as now, 
the providence of God is passing before us in a sudden 
and startling visitation, and we assemble under the 
burthen of a heavy bereavement, how shall we find 
ability to analyze, and language to express, the great 
thought suggested by the words which I have read \ 
And yet we must dwell upon it, however inadequately, 
now we have come together into the temple where our 



honored friend who was borne from these portals yes- 
terday was wont to worship, and mnsl 31 k in it the 
appropriate lesson for the day. The contemplation of 
that providence which has overtaken as with so little of 
preparation, and of that life just now closed among 
11-. so much of which was passed in the pnblic service, 
and before our own eyes in the familiarity of private 
intercourse, is the appropriate lesson; and your own 
hearts, before you came here, must have selected the 
appropriate text : " Mark the perfect man, and behold 
the upright, for the end of that man is peace." 

The perfect man! Perfection, of course, we can- 
not understand in an absolute and unqualified sense; 
t<»r in this sense there is no one perfect, no one good, 
but God. He who sits upon his throne of unrivaled 
-•lory, from whose perfections nothing can take, and to 
which no length of year- can add — God in the Ilea- 
vni- is perfect; and there is only one being that ever 
trod this earth, these realms of weakness and tempta- 
tion — the spotless Son of God — of whom with any de- 
gree of propriety we can say, kw Behold the perfect 
man." But there is another sense in which the words 
ni:i\ be used. They mean not an absolute freedom 
from sin; they express a perfection that is not incon- 
sistent with imperfection; they are employed not to in- 
dicate the man w ho has escaped all defects, and reached 
a height of goodness beyond which he cannot go; but 
rather to express that balance of the character, that 
completeness in all the parts, which -row- out of a 
seated moral and religious principle, a profound con- 
viction of responsibleness, and a sincere aim and an 



honest endeavor to know the truth and do right in all 
things. The perfect man and upright is he who, faith- 
ful to his inward principle and thought, with constancy 
and courage, by night and by day, carries the homage 
of his allegiance into all the relations and duties of 
life, private as well as public ; who willingly lays 
open his inmost bosom before Him from whom no 
subterfuge can hide, and fears not to proclaim his most 
secret motive and act in the ear of Him who leaves 
no deed unexamined and no wrong unrebuked. He 
is the perfect man. 

So understood, you will not deem it unmeaning 
eulogy when we apply the words to our endeared and 
honored friend, whom we mourn to-day, — who, in the 
language of one of his cotemporaries, "seems to us 
now, as in truth he is, not extinguished, or ceasing to 
be, but only withdrawn, as the clear sun goes down at 
its setting, not darkened, but only no longer seen ;" so 
suddenly has he passed away. For to whom will they 
apply with more of justness than to him who, for more 
than the third of a century, has had associated with 
his name that comprehensive and deeply significant 
word "honest," and will bear it onward, in the fair 
record of history, as long as that name shall be read \ 
Who has a better right to those appellations than he 
who, through years of public service and party strife, 
never incurred a suspicion of the purity of his motives 
or the integrity of his life, but who, through all politi- 
cal changes, retained the profound respect of those 
who opposed him most \ Who is more worthy of the 
title than he who has won so largely the confidence 



6 

and affection not only of those among whom lie lias 
lived, but of those who have never Been his face or 
heard his yoice '. For when, on Wednesday last, the 
tidings circulated throngh our city that John Davis 
was no more, a sndden shock, an overpowering sense 
of bereavement, passed from bosom to bosom, as when 
some dear and honored personal friend has been 
stricken down; when the same sad tidings were borne 
upon the electric wires, from city to city and village to 
village, the mournful expressions have come back to us 
on the printed sheet, "a great and good man has fall- 
en," "a shining light among the resplendent luminaries 
of the republic is extinguished," "the honest man and 
politician is gone." Let me endeavor, then, to show — 
feebly and imperfectly it must be ; for how can the 
mind, amidst its pressing cares, and after such a shock 
as we all have received, recover at once its tone of calm- 
ness and its capacity to do justice to a subject like 
this? — let me show some of the -round- of this 
wide confidence and affection which he inspired. Your 
own familiar acquaintance with the peculiarities of his 
character and the habits of his life, will supply the 
rest. 

Born in the neighboring town of Northboro', Janu- 
iiary L3th, L787, he was fortunate in the condition of 
his birth, and in every circumstance of his earb life. 
For, although this condition did not differ from thai 
which is common, and these circumstances were no 
Letter than those of hundreds anion-- as, they were 
precisely such as are adapted to form the finest traits 

of the New-England character. Influences from with- 



out and within, home and its association*, the changing 
aspects and occupations of the country, the habits of 
an intelligent and thoughtful community, — all served 
to give a direction to this character, and develop it 
into manly dignity and proportions. Descended of a 
s1 rong-minded, sober race, simple in their manners, and 
softened by the more cheerful modes of life which had 
been engrafted on the sterner practices of the old 
Puritans, he received those impressions which remain 
through every period and every change of our being. 
Under the parental roof he acquired that reverence 
for the great truths of our religion which lies at the 
foundation of all consistency and uprightness of char- 
acter, without which virtue is but an empty name, 
and religious sensibility a momentary impulse. From 
a child, a profound reverence for the Creator was an 
element of his life. Reared in the principles and the 
spirit of a simple and rational religion, his admiration 
for the character of the Savior was perfect, and his 
respect for that religion profound. I have not heard 
that an idle or irreverent expression ever fell from his 
lips. I do not believe there was ever a time when a 
lie, in any shape and for any purpose, was not an im- 
possibility with him, and when an immoral or a mean 
action was not his abhorrence. 

Here, then, he grew, in the midst of country scenes, 
with associations and memories and attachments to 
country life which never forsook him. His habits, and 
the influences by which he was surrounded, were well 
adapted to develop his best powers. The daily occu- 
pations of an agricultural life hardened his frame, and 



at the same time brought him constantly within the 
influence of the wonderful operations of nature, and 
created within him a love of the beauties of the natu- 
ral world and of country life and pursuits which con- 
tinued to animate him throughout life. His earliesl 
lessons in hooks were learned in the schools of his 
native village ; and at the early age of sixteen he him- 
self took the charge of one of these schools, and 
Learned, what no books could teach, self-discipline and 
self-reliance. After spending a few months at Leices- 
ter Academy, at the age of nineteen he entered Yale 
College, where he graduated with distinguished repu- 
tation in 1812. Here Clayton, Badger, Francis Gran- 
ger, and Truman Smith, were his cotemporaries, men 
whom he was destined to meet in other halls ; and the 
venerable Dr. Dwight, who then shed the luster of his 
genius over that institution, was his favorite teacher — 
a man who had the discernment to predict the future 
eminence of his gifted pupil — left upon him the impress 
of truth and grateful affection, which no length of 
time or chamre of circumstances could obliterate. At 
the close of his collegiate course he came to reside in 
Worcester, pursued his legal studies in the office of the 
late Erancis I Make, was admitted to the bar in L815; 
and, with the exception of a few months Bpent in the 
town of Spencer, he has made this his home. He has 
identified his interests with ours. Here he won Lis 
earliest laurels; here he formed his domestic attach- 
ments; and here he reared his children; and although 
from the habits of his life, and his absence large por- 
tions <>f many year-, hi- influence was contributed less 



directly than that of some to its advancement, his 
advice was freely rendered on all public matters, and 
he rejoiced in its prosperity, loved our city as the 
home of his earlier and late friends, and was accustom- 
ed to seek the indulgence of his social affections by a 
familiar intercourse with the humblest of its inhabit- 
ants. 

Let us pause here a moment, as he stands at the 
threshold of his career, and contemplate his entrance 
on life as a lawyer. Here, also, he was fortunate in 
the circumstances of his earlier lot, for they all con- 
spired to develop the intellectual and moral traits 
which were his crowning distinction. Simple and 
unaffected, modest even to diffidence, and distrustful, 
at times, of his ability even to rise in his profession, 
he came to a bar distinguished for its eloquence and 
legal accomplishments, its high moral tone, and its 
encouraging courtesy and kindness towards its younger 
members ; and he found himself in the midst of those 
influences which called forth his latent strength, and 
compelled him to conquer his self-distrust or abandon 
the profession. Brought into close conflict with acute 
minds, and aroused by the pressure of competition, 
he soon acquired confidence and distinction — not by 
any especial amount of legal learning ; for there were 
men who had read more books and could more readily 
quote chapter and section for precedents. He pos- 
sessed the rare faculty of seizing great principles ; and, 
adopting the safe maxim that for what is equitable and 
just there is a law, lie applied these principles with 
a singular sagacity, and, by his power of analysis, pro- 



10 

duced more impression upon judge and jury than others 
didbypiles of authority. He waa sagacious, but never 
resorted to tricks and chicanery; lie attained to his 
great success only by fair and honest practice. I do 
Qot believe he ever courted a client, or ministered to 
strife when a peaceful adjustment could be made. 
Those wlm would use the law to commit a wrong: or 
to indulge their vindictive passions, met only rebuke 
from him. He regarded his profession as a noble 
Bcience and a minister of good, and would not perveri 
it to wicked and ignoble purposes. Regarding the 
law, from the structure of society, as a barrier againsl 
injustice, and as, however imperfect, the best human 
interpretation of Divine Justice, he gave to his prof - 
-ion th«' best power of his mind and heart. In hi- ad- 
dress before a New England Court, 

His tong 
Dropped manna, but could not make the worse appear 
The better reason, to perplex ami dash 
Maturest counsels, — 

His armor was his honest thought, 

And simple truth his utmost skill ; 

And I have no doubt he gained his cause quite as 
often by his well-known integrity, and the sincerity 
which marked every feature of his countenance, as by 
his legal learning and forensic eloquence. 

All-. Davis soon became known, and won confidence 
beyond the circuit of the courts. After practicing at 
the bar ten years, he was chosen, without solicitation, 
to represent this district in Congress ; and, in Decem- 
ber, L825, he took his seat in that body which was 



11 

to witness his noblest and life-long efforts. From this 
time till the year preceding his death, a period of twen- 
ty-eight years, with brief exceptions, he was devoted to 
the public service. For nearly nine successive years 
he was a Representative in Congress, fourteen years a 
member of the U. S. Senate, and more than three 
years the Governor of this Commonwealth. Able as 
he had proved himself as a lawyer, his chosen place 
— the place for which his talents and tastes besl 
fitted him — was the legislative hall. His calm and 
clear perception, his power of observation, his practi- 
cal acquaintance with business, his knowledge of men, 
his sagacity, his common sense, his force of character, 
his concise and dignified utterance, his logical power 
in debate, his habits of work, his simple but urbane 
manners, his fidelity to duty, the spotless purity of 
his daily life, the uprightness of his purposes, and the 
warmth of his sympathies, gave him an influence and 
respect at Washington such as few enjoyed. The 
early part of his career was one of the most brilliant 
eras in Congressional history. Mr. Adams, Mr. Web- 
ster, Mr. Clay, Mr. Calhoun, Col. Benton, Mr. Van 
Buren, and many other men of distinguished eminence, 
were his cotemporaries at that time. The subjects 
which occupied public attention involved not only the 
prosperity of the nation, but the vital welfare, the sal- 
vation of Xew England. Her manufacturing villages 
were rising into existence, and their life and death 
hung upon the acts of a single session. Mr. Davis 
very early took a prominent stand on the question of 
domestic industry, and, in a house of great ability, was 



12 

soon recognized as the leader of the friends of Ameri- 
can interests. I Deed not say to you that it requires 
no ordinary ability to attain to such a position. It 
was my good fortune to be present when he arose to 
make one of his earliest speeches. I thought how 
trying it must be, what thoroughness ,.f preparation, 
\\ hat confidence and self-reliance were needed here. 
There were men there who had grown old in the 
public service, and whose expression of dissent or 
indifference no courtesy would restrain. I well re- 
member that some of the most eminent statesmen 
of the country came and sat near him, giving him 
a close attention during the whole speech. I remem- 
ber, also, the silence of the house, and the expression 
of satisfaction which that speech elicited from men 
who were not wont to Hatter. And why satisfaction \ 
Not because of the beauties of rhetoric, and the 
graces of oratory, though occasions are recorded when 
Mr. Davis rose into the regions of impassioned elo- 
quence, and Btirred his audience profoundly: but 
because he had something to say; because he had 
studied and mastered the subject; was familiar with 
the condition and wants of those for whom lie spoke; 
and then uttered riffhl on the honest convictions of his 
bosom. Therefore he spoke well. It' he possessed 
not the eloquence which pleases most a popular 
assembly, he was capable of that which is mosl 
acceptable to serious, thoughtful men, who want to be 
informed and convinced, — fullness of fact, clearness of 
thought, strength of argument,and an unusual power 
of lucid expression. His influence in the halls of 



13 

legislation was universally acknowledged ; and it wen I 
forth in the printed page, on his chosen subjects, 
as widely and effectively as that of any of his cotem- 
poraries. Indeed, who that can go back in memory 
fifteen or twenty years, can forget the impression 
made by these speeches, — with what avidity they were 
read in city and country, what clearness they shed 
upon the momentous topics of the day, how convin- 
cing were their arguments, how they moved the hearts 
of New England, and won for him the tender and 
grateful sympathies of those who had never heard his 
voice, or looked upon his countenance. This is not 
the time or place to speak upon the correctness of his 
opinions on the tariff, the sub-treasury, the protection 
of American fisheries, or the limitation of American 
slavery, — that subject which touches so deeply the 
moral sentiments of the American people. On all he 
achieved a more than New-England reputation, and 
was regarded with a personal confidence and attach- 
ment beyond the borders of his own section of the 
country. 

It was not principally as a debater, however, that 
Mr. Davis obtained the great influence which he secu- 
red, but rather as a man of sound common sense, — 
that most uncommon, as has been said, of all mental 
uit'ts. To the hasty observer he was, perhaps, slow in 
forming his opinions, because the great grasp of his 
intellect enabled him to measure all sides of a <jues- 
tion ; but his judgment was unerring, his acquaintance 
with affairs intimate and extensive, and he knew, be- 
yond most men, how to adjust means to ends. It was 



14 

this that won for him the confidence of his State, in a 
time of great political excitement, and made him the 
able and successful chief magistrate. lie had a power, 
beyond most men, of impressing his conviction-, in 
conversation, upon other-. This gave him promi- 
nence in council, and rendered him invaluable in 
.nmniittee-rooms. His advice was eagerly sought; 
and men who shook the continent by their eloqpence, 
men whose names are associated with leading political 
measures, men who guided the course of public 
events, have not disdained to confess how much they 
were indebted to him. But his judgment was not 
merely an intellectual quality; as the highest capacity 
always does, his partook also of a moral element. 
The heart helped the head. He saw clearly, because 
he felt keenly. His patriotism was a deep-seated 
sentiment, as well as an intellectual conviction. The 
prosperity of his country was dear to him; his bosom 
swelled as he contemplated her boundless capabilities ; 
her perils were his own, and his individual happiness 
was bound up in her well-being. Wfth fond affection 
he loved to dwell upon her past history, and tell over 
the -Teat names with which it is adorned. "With more 

o 

than personal attachment, he clung to those who did 
her honor; and with what withering rebuke did he 
apeak of those who. for a personal gain, or through 
a personal ambition, could tear and trample upon even 
the hem of her garment! IIi< experience of public 
life, instead of impairing seemed to give intensity to 
the moral element- of his being. Hence also his 
power. Wilberforce i- thought to have reached a 



15 

proud eminence when, by the purity of his char- 
acter, he became a moral authority, a guide to the 
moral judgment of Parliament, of which he was a 
member. We do not say that Governor Davis 
-was all this ; but we do say, that what he pro- 
nounced morally wrong, it was felt not safe to adopt. 
Hence it was with a natural repugnance to osten- 
tation and display, in all the eminent stations to 
which he was called he consecrated himself to the 
public good, and devoted himself with unremitting 
assiduity to the real business of his country and his 
time. The last important public act which occupied 
him, shows for whose good and for what ends he legis- 
lated. AVith an amount of labor which can be appre- 
ciated only by those who are familiar with such sub- 
jects, he procured the adoption of measures for the 
prevention of those terrible disasters which have 
strewed our waters Avith ruined boats and manerled 
limbs, and made traveling so fearful a thing. The act, 
disinterested in its aims, and politically unconsjucuous, 
was characteristic of the man. It added no personal 
capital, it brought no immediate fame ; but, like the 
prayers of the good man, it blesses, and in all time will 
bless, those who know not through whom or what the 
blessing comes. 

This, I have said, was the last public act of Gov. 
Dans. After more than twenty-five years of public 
service, he returned to his home among us, to look at 
the scenes of an eventful life from afar, to resume 1 h« >-■■ 
quiet pleasures which he loved, and enjoy again those 
home scenes, which, by the strength of his attach- 



1G 



ments and the gentleness of his nature, he so adorned. 
A change had come over the current of his life — a 
change which, if we may judge from the ample bio- 
graphies of English statesmen, is often attended with 
ill-concealed vexation, even when the public duties can 
no lunger be performed. Gracefully and without a 
pang relinquishing his honors, he sought the repose of 
hi- home. It was the haven of rest after being heaved 
upon the changeful billows ; the calm of the evening 
after the heats of the day are over; the peace after the 
storm. The end of the perfect man and upright is 
peace evermore. But in his retirement he indulged 
not in idleness ; such a man could not be permitted to 
rest in inglorious ease. There was unabated confidence 
in his tried experience, his wisdom, and integrity ; and 
larger demands continued to be made for his Bervices. 
He was one to whom a dying husband and father 
would not fear to commit the care of wife and chil- 
dren, and a thoughtful community entrnsl tin- rich leg- 
acies of the past. Years ago, his connsel had been 
-ought by men who had never seen his face, and only 
had heard on the other side of the Atlantic how com- 
petent, and honest, and faithful he was; and he had 
been honorably employed by foreign capitalists t<» aid 
in the restoration of the credit of Borne of our West- 
ern Slate-. And now thai lie was retired from public 

life, his wisdom, judgment, and experience were sought 
by the community in many greal affairs partaking the 
nature of public trusts. But his home was dearto him. 
and its repose grateful, and he avoided tin-' a- much 
as he could consistently with his ideas of duty. lb- 



17 

recurred with fresh interest, after so long an interrup- 
tion, to his earlier classic studies. lie indulged his 
t;iste for antiquarian lore, which had been the unction 
of his life, and watched over the interests of the Anti- 
quarian Society, of which he was the presiding officer ^ 
with unabated interest. His garden and his orchards 
were his delight. And in intercourse with his neigh- 
bors and friends, who loved to look upon his manly 
face, and to listen to his affluent and varied dis- 
course, cordial in Ins habits, and revered by the people 
among whom he lived, his days passed pleasantly and 
happily away. 

His home was dear to him, and its repose grateful ; 
how dear and grateful they were, we learn when we 
see with what alacrity he repaired his tent, and gath- 
ered about him the conveniences and ornaments which 
would make that home agreeable. Not that he in- 
dulged the vain and presumptuous hope that he could 
dwell here for ever, or long. He saw the sword sus- 
pended by a single hair, and knew that his hour could 
not be long delayed ; for, the victim of sudden attacks 
of disease, he had more than once been brought low, and 
lain close to the chambers of death. And so, not for 
himself did he build, but for others more dear than 
himself. He would leave a fitting spot, consecrated to 
the sanctities and hospitalities of home, where, though 
he should be gone, his scattered tribes might gather, 
and bind yet closer the tie which his presence had done 
so much to cement. No ! he was not deceived. He 
knew that his days could not be many on the earth ; 
that ere long the strong man would bow himself, the 

2 



18 

windows would be darkened, and the floors be shut in 
the streets. For, cannot we now remember a gentleness 
of manner, mellowed graces of the character, quick- 
ened sensibility and ripened virtue-, as it' the world of 
sense were retiring, and the world of a spiritual being 
growing more near ! Cannot we now remember his 
frequent recurrence to the highest subjects of human 
thought; his large disconrse on God's wonderful love, 
Christ's mediation, and the nnfathomed mystery of fu- 
turity, as if the faith which had been the guide of his 
youth and the strength of his manhood, were now 
changing into a deeper experience, and moulding him 
for the skies? No! not he — it is we who were de- 
ceived; for when we contemplated the ever-active in- 
tellect, and saw the eye as yet not grown dim, nor the 
strength abated; when we saw the hand yet bnsied 
with these material objects, and the large preparations 
for the enjoyment of life, we associated his image with 
the returning seasons and their change. We fondly 
dreamed that the -citing sun would not yet go down, 
bnt still shine on, if with milder beam, yet no less be- 
nignantly. It is we who were deceived ; for, alas for 
the vanity of human wishes, and the uncertainty of 
human expectations! while we were looking forward to 
a few years a1 Leasl of profitable and plea-ant inter- 
course, deluded, perhaps, bj onr hopes, God's dread 
messenger was already sent, and had begun his work 
in secresy ami in silence among the delicate organs ^\' 
the frame. Even while we gazed, thai countenance, so 
marked. was changed; that voice, SOoften heard in the 
counsels of the nation, was forever hushed ; that dig- 



19 

nified and manly form sunk in the arms of death ; that 
noble spirit, which blessed us for a season, was lost to 
earth, and went back to its God. 

Yesterday we stood by the grave of one of the 
most conspicuous men among us — conspicuous for Lis 
integrity, his patriotic devotion, and his long public 
services. In a career so marked, it would be strange if 
none differed from him in sentiment, and none assumed 
to have detected failure in some acts of his life. There 
were occasions, few and rare, where on the floor of Con- 
gress, he was called on to repel insinuations rashly or 
wickedly made, and when he administered a justly 
merited rebuke; There were times when his caution 
was misunderstood for timidity, and his ancient rever- 
ence for the constitution of his country was construed 
into indifference to the cause of freedom. There were 
times, too, when, relinquishing cherished associations, 
he stood up as the frank and fearless advocate of that 
cause, and maintained it with a growing conviction, 
" without apprehension, without equivocation, without 
compromising.' 1 In such emergencies, could he always 
escape the altered eye of unkindness on his actions, the 
whisper of dissent? But if there be any here who 
differed from him in judgment upon public affairs, let 
them remember the integrity of purpose which anima- 
ted him, and the clearness of perception which guided 
his judgment; and, in the language of his own beau- 
tiful eulogy on the death of Mr. Adams, "let the man- 
tle of oblivion be thrown over every unkind thought 
of him, if one there be; let us yield our homage of 
admiration to his many virtues ; and let it be our pray- 



20 

er, if summoned in a like sudden and awful maimer, 
we may not he found unprepared, but the rather en- 
joying that peace which is the end of the perfect man." 

Let us remember, there is now a desolate home, and 
hearts sorrowing because he who was it- light and joy, 
whose benignant Bmile, whose tender sympathies, whose 
wise and gentle bearing, consecrated that home, is no 
longer there. She who has so long been the compan- 
ion of his thoughts, and nurse at his pillow, into whose 
• •ar, in dying, he poured the accent- of undying affec- 
tion, and they who had a lather most indulgent and 
revered! — we know they mourn not as those without 
hope ; for he is not dead, but "gone on before.' 1 And 
if there is any consolation in the sympathy of a mourn- 
ing community; if there is any comfort in the heartfelt 
regrets of those who knew him best; if there is anj 
solace in the assurance that a Father's hand is lain 
heavily only to bless the more, — they will be consoled 
and comforted, their present darkness will be changed 
into light ineffable, and for their present grief will be 
opened fountains of repose. 

My friends, members of the community and fellow- 
worshippers, we Lave contemplated a life of singular 
l»urit \ , probity, fidelity, and Buccess. We have lingered 
over it- beginning, its progress, and its end. In the 
niid-f of our vain confidences, we have been Btartled 
by a sudden and dark visitation of Providence. We 
have -t-'ud l,\ the bier of the revered and beloved. 
We have been brougbl face to face with the sterner 
realities of our human existence. We have been made 
to behold the strange and touching contrasts of human 



21 

greatness find human weakness, of death in life, and 
life in death. And what is the lesson ? u Mark the 
perfect man and behold the upright; for the end of 
that man is peace." The man of large gifts and con- 
spicuous station and enduring influence, has passed 
away. He began his career in no exalted station, with 
no advantage above yours and mine. But by fidelity 
and the force of perseverance and inward principles, he 
acquired inward power, and attained to a large success. 
Tempted as we are, yet he held last his integrity ; tried 
as Ave all must be, yet he did not falter ; arrested often 
by painful sickness as few are, yet he pressed on. 

AYhile truth, purity, gentleness, Christian charity, 
affectionate tenderness of nature, and nobility of char- 
acter shall be held worthy of esteem, let the example 
of the life just closed be kept green in our memories. 
He sleeps amid the graves of our honored dead. 
And while the spring flower shall bloom and the au- 
tumn leaves shall fall upon the spot where he lies, af- 
fectionate kindred, never ceasing to regret, will mourn 
the fond husband, the kind father, the thoughtful rela- 
tive; humble villagers, among whom he was born, and 
with whom he loved to mingle, will think then of one 
ayIio in his greatness never forgot the lowly; honored 
1 >atriots will meditate on one then who clung to his coun- 
try with so true an affection, and served her so faithfully ; 
and you, brethren and fellow-worshippers! whohaveso 
often communed with him in tin; quiet of sacred inter- 
course, and have so often sat with him in this place of 
our solemnities, will sometimes visit the hallowed spot ; 
and your hearts will melt as you shall remember Avbat 



22 

a manly intellect has passed from your councils. 
When all have paid their meed of admiration, when 
Learned associates shall have expressed their sorrow, 
and the commonwealth has perhaps ceased to mourn 
one of her mosl gifted sons, he who now addresses 
you will still continue to sorrow for the excellent 
parishioner, the kind neighbor, and the faithful friend : 
and his faith shall be strengthened as he remem- 
bers the end of the upright, and the peace of the 
perfect man. 



APPENDIX. 



The following article from the New York Tribune, of April 22, 
1854, is one of the many tributes rendered by the press of the coun- 
try to the worth and public services of Mr. Davis : — 

" The death of Gov. Davis, of Massachusetts, is an event which we 
cannot pass over in silence. In addition to the brief biographical 
sketch of his life which we published yesterday, we are impelled to 
testify our respect for the eminent talents and elevated character of 
tli.it distinguished and most worthy man. As governor of his native 
State, and as one of her representatives in Congress, he bad no small 
share in establishing for her the distinction of the " model Common- 
wealth." In one or the other of these capacities, he served his State 
for twenty-four years. And during the whole of that long period, 
though it was illustrated by the career of some of the greatest men 
that Massachusetts has produced — prolific though she has been in men 
of eminence — no one had a more decided hold upon popular affection 
and esteem than John Davis. 

"Unlike many public men of note in Massachusetts' annals, Gov. 
Davis never especially devoted himself to the cultivation of letters. It 
was no part of his ambition to read either Latin or Greek for the pur- 
pose of quoting it. That small style of literary distinction in vogue 
in the Bay State, had no charms for his large and vigorous under- 
standing, lie was a man of earnest thought, of comprehensive scope 
of mind, of steady and unerring judgment, of inflexible integrity, and 
unswerving decision of character. He was rather distinguished as a 
man of large general powers, than as an eminent writer or brilliant 
talker. Yet for clearness of statement, robusl sense, and powerful 
logic, bis speeches will bear a favorable comparison with any delivered 



24 

in Congress during the long term of lus public service. His tariff 
sp >hes, especially, in their facts, figures, and logic, arc models of in- 
structive and invulnerable argumentation. And to his speeches in 
Congress was accorded always this emphatic testimonial : They w< 
always attentively listened to, and their positions seldom or never as- 
sailed. Never speaking for the sake of speaking, but always because 
he had something to say which demanded utterance and challenged 
regard, he uniformly commanded the stricl attention of his auditors. 

■• Bui it is as an honest, independent, fearless public man, thai we 
chiefly desire to speak of Gov. Davis, and to bear our emphatic testi- 
mony to his sterling worth. Cool, cautious, conservative in his general 
tone <>(' mind, perhaps he failed at times to win the quick approval 
of the ardenl and enthusiastic. But if lie was sometimes slow to 
move, when he did move he always moved in the right direction. Ee 
never was cajoled or seduced or corrupted into any crooked ways. His 
path was broad and straightforward, and always illumined by the light 
of a manly intellecl and unquestioned honesty of purpose. No man 
had clearer views in all public emergencies, and no man ever more 
faithfully followed his convictions. Conciliatory in temper, moderate 
and circumspejet in action, occasions yet arose in his public car* 
when upon important questions he was found standing and vol 
alone, and in opposition to the most cherished relations. In the great 
contest of 1850, in the preliminary skirmishes t<\' the two y< ars which 
led to it, and in all the direcl and incidental conflicts thai gre^ oul of 
it, John Davis was the fearless and unflinching friend and leader in the 
cause of freedom. 1 fe was one of the earliesl and mosl resolute of the 
supporters of Gen. Taylor's policy on the Territorial question, and one 
of the most conspicuous and inflexible opponents of the Foote"ad- 
justments," known as the Compromises of 1850. Gov. Davis was one 
of the t'.-w eminenl men in Congress who could never 1"' alarmed or 
shaken by the periodical threats of secession and dissolution which 
have at various times disfigured the annals of our political history. 
Sober and measured as he always was in his public conduct,and in his 
comments upon public affairs, he yet never hesitated to deride and 
contemn the bugbear apprehensions which some of our distinguished 
men were wont to habitually express respecting the great fragility of 
thi. Union, and the great necessity <■( compromising to save it. A 



25 

"crisis," such as could be got by little fellows like Foote, or the more 
formidable movements of Calhoun and McDuffie, while it occasioned 
grave concern on the part of statesmen of timid nerves, or of those 
whose interests were promoted bj magnifying it, never disturbed the 
equanimity of John Davis. Ee was one of the men who never be- 
lieved in the froth and rhodomontade of the South about disunion ; 
and was always ready to say, " Lei the trial come." His language on 
all such occasions was, •• If we have a Government, let us know it, and 
if we have not, let us know it." It was by this steadiness and stability 
of character, that he always exercised a powerful influence in Con- 
gress, never measured and seldom recognized in public, because of its 
being unseen, but which was none the less effective on that account. 
The future biographer of Gov. Da\is will do him injustice if he fails 
to hold him up as a man eminently fitted for emergencies; as a man 
of clear judgment, resolute purpose, ready to act without apprehen- 
sion, without equivocation, and without compromising. In these qual- 
ities he occupies a rank inferior to none of his cotemporaries; while 
his career in these respects affords a striking contrast to more than 
one of Massachusetts' most distinguished representatives in the Sen- 
ate. If that State would always send to Congress men made after 
the model of " honest John Davis," the title of " model Common- 
wealth " would as well apply to her political representation at Wash- 
ington, as it now applies to her industrial development and her social 
status. If she could always have such men to represent her in Con- 
a -s or occupy her governors chair, her glory would remain 
undimmed, and her highest honors untarnished." 

3 



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